Netflix is a really cool service - if you're a member I don't have to tell you that already. When I stream Netflix movies on Netflix Instant I just feel great about having quality movies on-demand streamed to my pimped-up home entertainment center (I use my PS3). The catch is that I'm not in The US. Lots of travelers every year, or people living outside the USA ask the same question all the time about whether or not your can stream Netflix outside the us, and they get a lot of vague, outdated, or just wrong answers. I've seen some of the answerers on Yahoo! questions and Mac Forums. It's actually really easy.

To stream Netflix outside The US you need a VPN. It doesn't matter if you're using an iPad, or PS3, if it can connect to the Internet, you can get a VPN for it and stream it outside The USA. Actually, here's a list of some of the more popular stuff you can watch Netflix Instantly on.

PS3 Xbox 360 Wii Apple TV Google TV Roku Blue Ray Players HDTV iPhone / iPad Windows Phone 7

So get one of these guys set up, or even just your laptop hooked up to TV would work fine as well. Then you've got to get a VPN.

Before you read any further, a VPN is a paid service. There are free VPN's out there, but if you're going to stream Netflix with a VPN, I would advise against getting a free one for two reasons. One, it's going to restrict you in some way - perhaps restricting bandwidth which means you'll be limited to how many movies you can stream from Netflix, or it might give you a time limit meaning that eventually you'll have to buy one anyway. Most of the time they're too slow to stream smoothly anyway. It's not worth the waste of time.

A VPN doesn't require any extra hardware to stream Netflix outside The US. Just sign up for the service, download the VPN, connect to it, and like magic you can get Netflix. I also watch Hulu like this. Both Hulu and Netflix are able to block someone from accessing their site from outside American by blocking their IP address. This tells Netflix the location of your computer. It is through the VPN that you're able to obtain a temporary American IP address and stream movies from their site even though outside The US. Because you've got this American IP address, that means you also get access to other sites like Pandora and Hulu.

This is how I stream Netflix outside The US on my PS3 and it should also work for your device, whatever it may be. Considering that the the only restriction is based upon IP, the VPN to change your IP address is enough to fix this problem.